The Alpha's Love
by XxRaeMaexX
Summary: One night, Stiles decide to show Scott a mysterious tree he had found. Unbeknownst to them, they had just walked into a war between packs. They get chased by another Alpha when Derek shows up to save them. Build-up towards Sterek. Rated M for language and for other things (If you know what I mean) in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Run. Don't look back, don't look down. I huffed out a shaky breath, my legs going numb from the exertion of continuous running.

 _Was Scott following?_

I didn't have the energy to shake my head to clear my thoughts. No, keep running. Scott wasn't being chased; he would be okay. As a roar sounded behind me, I sprinted faster on the toes of my feet and leaned forward. My chest felt compressed. My whole body burned with the lack of oxygen. I felt scared. Exhilarated. I felt so many emotions at the same time.

I hurried along the frosted ground of the forest, minding the fallen logs and the above-ground roots of the trees. I ran for another minute. I was ready to give up by then, get killed brutally by the beast chasing me. I shouldn't have never run. As I wallowed in self-pity, I had come to an unexpected end of the frosted ground, a river raging forming.

I fell.

I tumbled down the steep bank, sharp rocks poking me in the sides. I had enough luck to not hit my head right then and there. Or, maybe I shouldn't have been glad. I wouldn't have to be awake to get eaten if I was unconscious. I let out a yelp as I landed on rocks just beneath the frigid waters. The only thing I could hear was my fast breaths, my heart hammering in my head, and the gentle lap of the water around my body.

I clamped my mouth shut, suffocating myself to see if I could hear anything else. For seconds, nothing. I opened my mouth as my lungs burned with neglect, and took a huge gasp of much-needed air. I lay there for a moment, collecting myself, and scanning the area. The water had cooled me off, but now I felt my hands and feet turn numb from the cold. They were so cold, they were hot with a burning sensation. I pulled myself from the water, letting out a groan of pain from my side. My right hand traveled to the pain. My shirt was wet, but I desperately hoped I wasn't bleeding.

I continued pulling myself, until I reached a muddy bank, and lay there, shivering. Adrenaline still ran through my veins, but it was disappearing fast. I was scared again, the darkness of the night surrounding me. If it wasn't for the moon, I would have been completely blind with my non-elite human eyes. _Where was Scott? The beast? Was Scott dead?_ Oh, God no. Please don't let Scott be dead. If anyone should die, it should be me. I had come up with this idiotic plan. I had put us in danger.

A whimper escaped my mouth, and I bit my lip to quiet myself.

So stupid...

"C'mon! Hurry it up, will you?" I hopped from foot to foot, trying to escape the coldness of the air.  
"Shut it, Stiles! Can't you see I'm trying?"  
"You should've tied your shoes inside!"  
"I did!"  
"Triple-knotted them?"  
"Stiles!" Scott shot me an annoyed glare from his crouched position.  
"Ugh," I moaned, rubbing my arms hurriedly. "Take your time, princess," I added in a lower voice. I looked around in the vast wilderness. Surprisingly, I felt alive. I felt hyperactive in the raw coldness in the middle of the forest at night, highlighted a sliver by the full moon. Scott rose beside me, flexing his legs and nodded at me.

"Ready." I rolled my eyes.  
"Obviously. C'mon," I started on my way again. Scott trotted beside me.  
"Tell me again where we're going."  
"I didn't tell you a first time, so I can't tell you again," I retorted with a smirk. Scott pushed me with an elbow to my side.  
"Funny," he deadpanned.  
"Aw, thank you. I'm flattered." I did a quick half-bow as I stopped beside a tree. I looked around at my surroundings. I grinned. I relished in the familiarity of the place that I had found earlier. "Almost there," I told Scott. I quickened my pace. I heard a groan of protest from Scott. I hurried him up with a signal of my hand. Soon, I found the stick I had placed in the ground to later show I was on the spot. I made a noise of triumph and let my hands feel the bark of a certain tree. It was very tall, but gnarled with the teeth of bugs and dying. My fingers began to dip slightly into a crevice. I dropped the small bag on my pack and searched for my flashlight.

"This is what you wanted to show me? A dead tree?" I gave Scott a look, who was squinting at the tree.  
"Wait a second, will ya'? Aha!" I grabbed the flashlight and clicked it on, showing what made the tree special. I looked over to see Scott's eyes widening.  
"Woah," he murmured. I nodded.  
"Yeah. Take in that." I looked back at the huge scratches in the tree. They were four of them, each about an inch deep, and deadly looking. I wasn't sure if a cougar or grizzly bear made them, but whatever did, it was big. Scott shook his head, glaring at me before he punched my shoulder.  
"What the hell was that for?" I exclaimed, momentarily dropping the flashlight.  
"T-This-... monster made this and you bring me in the middle of night to show me?!" He yelled and grabbed my jacket. "Don't you know this i-is a way bears can mark territories? You idiot!" I evened my stare, pushing him away.  
"Dude! I had my dad take the dogs down here. They didn't find anything! Chill!" Scott paced and I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, it's fine."  
"Is it, Stiles?"  
"Are you dissing my dad?" I glared at him. This was supposed to be fun, not a yell-here-and-a-yell-there party. I went to pick up my flashlight, freezing midway as a loud, shrill noise broke through the peaceful quietness of the night. I hurriedly grabbed the flashlight and joined Scott. Already, he was pale in color and giving me a scared look. Oh God.

"What the hell was that?" He asked. I shook my head, waving the only light I had crazily around us. Another shrill roar, this one sounding closer. Oh, fuck. Oh lordy. Before I had time to process this information, Scott was running.  
"Scott!" I yelled, taking off after him, but I had lost him. Damnit. How did a guy with asthma run so fast? I pushed on harder. "Scott, come back!" A roar sounding behind me with a sickening sound of a tree cracking and falling. _Oh, fuck_. "Nevermind! Don't come back!" I ran faster than I ever had at lacrosse practice, branches whipping me in the face.

Run. Run. Run. The only things repeating in my head as I ran. Now, skip to the river part, that was everything that had happened. By now, things had quieted. My mind and body both had calmed down, enough that I was allowed to think straight and clearly. I had long since dropped the flashlight, but I could use the moon's light to guide me. First off, I had to find where I was located.

Luckily, I know this river. It was around two miles from the main road. Follow the river downstream, locate civilization, call my father, and have him search the forest for Scott. At the thought of Scott, guilty and sorrow-ridden thoughts entered my mind. Please be alive. Please be alive. I couldn't imagine what life would be without- no!

Think straight. For Scott. I groaned with the effort to heave myself onto my legs. I stuck my fingers into the cold, sticky mud, my arms shaking with the amount of stress. I folded my legs underneath me, toeing my way up. My left ankle ached; I had probably sprung it on the tumble down. However, I bit my lip and stayed quiet. After a minute of crawling uphill, I stilled. I had heard something. My fingers desperately clung onto the hillside, trying to keep myself upright. My ankle and side both ached and burned. A gasp got stuck in my throat when I heard branches breaking. A mumbled curse that caused me to melt in relief.

Oh, thank the Lords above! Scott! "Scott! Down here!" I yelled. I no longer cared who- or what - else heard me. I heard the crunching of frosted ground getting trampled underfoot, and then finally, a face appeared above me. It wasn't Scott's.


	2. Chapter 2

I stared at a full-grown man's face. God-like sharp cheekbones, few days worth of stubble on his chin, and amazingly pretty eyes that were a light green with brown highlighting the pupil. I gulped, frozen with fear. My heart beat a million miles a minute; it beat so hard it thrummed in the back of my mind.

"Come on," he told me. Deep, but smooth. He reached up and hauled me up from the armpits. I was still stiff with uneasiness and untrusting of the guy. He dropped me onto flat ground and I let out a huff. "Get up."

I scrambled to get up, but my side hurt and I ended up falling again. I heard the man let out a groan of annoyance and I bent my head in embarrassment. _Get it together, Stiles._ I tried again, finally managing to stay upright on wobbly legs. I turned toward him.

"Did you find Scott?" The words came at rushed, the man taking my breath away. Not just because his clothes were tight and taut over his massive arm muscles, but because his clothes were stained with rust-colored blood. My breath caught again in my throat as he let out an animalistic growl. Oh, lordy. Warning triggers wailed in my head.  
"In my car."  
"Are you sure it's him?" I asked. It was an automatic response. The man glared at me harder. "Black hair, lopsided chin, really bad asthma." _Stop talking, you idiot_! But, I couldn't. I was cursed with the action of speaking whenever I felt threatened and unsafe. The man now stared at me like he wanted to kill me. "He has like, these really annoying puppy eyes and he's about this-"  
"I'm sure you two were the only idiots that decided to come here at night. Now hurry before it's back." He grabbed my arm and pulled me along. I let out a small yelp of pain as my ankle buckled. However, the hold from the man kept me upright and he had enough mercy to slow down. As we fast-walked, I watched the man whip his head side-to-side, keeping watch. His nose scrunched up, and I rolled my eyes. Did he really just sniff the air?

"What's your name?" I asked him finally. He didn't answer, instead quickened our pace. I had to jog to keep up. I hated uncomfortable silences, and this counted as one. "Well?" I tried again.  
"Shut up. It could still be following." _Use your head, Stiles_. I bit my lip from speaking out again, and for another minute, we jogged. Finally, we reached a black Camaro and I let out a noise of appreciation. We had reached some symbol of safety. As we got closer, the door opened and Scott came bursting out.

"Stiles!" I had never been happier to see my best friend. I let out a huge grin.  
"Ay, Scotty!" I called out and caught his running form in my arms. I felt the presence of the man disappear and seen him climb into the car.  
"Get in," he told us before slamming the door shut. I winced.  
"Damn, he has some issues. You okay?" I asked Scott. He nodded as I patted his shoulder. We made our way to the car and climbed in. We were taking off before I could properly seat myself. I sent a look towards Scott.  
"Are you okay?" Scott whispered to me, as the man drove onto a dirt road. He didn't stop glaring.  
"I think so. I might be bleeding." At Scott's worried and bugged-out eyes, I lifted my shirt to show him. "Bleeding?" I asked. He was silent as his fingers gently ran along the skin. I seethed in pain and Scott whipped his head up, silently asking if I was okay.  
"It's okay. Probably just bruised. Can you tell?"  
"There's some mud, but I don't think there's blood. It's dark so..." He didn't have to continue his thought. I knew. I nodded and let go of my shirt. I leaned in closer to Scott.  
"Did you catch his name?" I whispered, motioning toward the guy with my chin. Scott shook his head, and I laid back, wondering if I should ask myself. I didn't want to be murdered, however since the guy looked pretty angry. I clicked my tongue and rolled my head to the side to look out the window. Uneasiness seeped throughout my body, and I couldn't help to keep glancing sideways at the mysterious man. I doubt he would kill us; he would have done it sooner. But, with all the blood on him, it was also hard to trust him. I couldn't keep my worries in.

"Are you gonna kill us?" I burst out. "Why is there so much blood on your shirt? What's your name? My dad is the sheriff, you know. Keep that in mind."  
"Stiles," Scott whispered harshly, "what are you doing?" He tugged on my shirt sleeve, obviously alarmed. The man sighed.  
"The blood on my shirt is from that monster. And no, I'm not going to kill you."  
"Name?" I urged on. Silence for a while.  
"Derek," he told us.  
"So, Derek, why were you in those woods at night? Being an idiot, too?" Scott let out a gasp. The car accelerated into a faster speed, and I watched Derek tighten his grip on the wheel.

Derek didn't answer me. In fact, the whole way back to my house after that was in silence. I had crossed a line of his.

* * *

I dried my hair off, feeling refreshed and fully awake. Luckily, I hadn't been bleeding, but there was an ugly bruise to show for. Also, my ankle had just been sprung. I let out a happy groan and breathed in deeply.

"Hmm, what're you doing?" I asked Scott, who browsed through my laptop.  
"Looking at pictures of animal scratches." I came up behind him and set my hands on the back of the chair. "Cougar?"  
"Yeah. But that's not it. The scratches are all together and they aren't as deep." I sniffed and shrugged.  
"Try bears."  
"Already did. Kinda like it, but the nails are narrower and weren't as deep." I let out a breath.  
"Look, as much as I am curious, we could have died today. If it weren't for that guy, we'd be dead."  
"Speaking of Derek," Scott began, "didn't he say the blood was from the monster?" I searched through my memories before nodding.  
"Yeah, he did. Kinda odd he said monster. Maybe a really big bear?" Scott was silent for a moment.  
"I dunno, man. Something seemed off about him.  
"Everything seemed off about him," I retorted. I left Scott and flopped onto my bed, thinking about Derek. God, he was a gorgeous man, but at the same time, he felt wrong. As if, he knew something we didn't and that everything he said was a lie. I let out a frustrated huff. Why did he say monster? As silly as it sounded, it was like he was speaking of something from the supernatural. I cuddled the quilt to my chest.

Memories of my younger days when had believed in the supernatural came to me. No, not the tooth fairy, or the easter bunny, but the vampires and werewolves and ghosts. I had actually grown out of that a year and a half ago. Only Scott knew, and he never judged. Now, thinking about the scratches had brought back my earlier enthusiasm about monsters. The bed tipped downward and groaned with the extra weight of Scott.

"Hey, remember when I-"  
"Don't say it," Scott interrupted me. "Don't. That's got nothing to do with this."  
"So, you don't think it's a werewolf?" I teased and Scott threw a pillow at me. "Hey! You can sleep on the ground for that, mister!"  
"I think it's just a bear who used his scratching tree too much, okay?" I nodded. I moved over to let Scott share the space and slipped underneath the covers. He joined me again after turning off the nightstand.

In the darkness of the room, I thought about what Derek had said. I wasn't as sure as Scott. I truly believed something else had made those scratches and Derek had something to do with it.


End file.
